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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to take on a long term project

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Speaker 1: that you can associate with this summer. We are living

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Speaker 1: through tumultuous times, and one way to deepen memories is

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Speaker 1: to consciously undertake something that will always link your mind

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Speaker 1: to this time. If you've ever undertaken a huge project,

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Speaker 1: you probably recall when you did it. Over Christmas break

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Speaker 1: when I was in seventh grade, I built a dollhouse

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Speaker 1: from a kid completely by myself. I sanded, I fitted pieces,

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Speaker 1: I glued on hundreds of shingles. Much of my early

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Speaker 1: teenage years have disappeared into the past, but that I remember.

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Speaker 1: I also associate certain long books with certain times. I

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Speaker 1: tackled Chris and Laveryn Statter, a doorstopper of an epic

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Speaker 1: during a beach trip my extended family took to celebrate

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Speaker 1: my parents fiftieth wedding anniversary. Now medieval Norway, the summer

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Speaker 1: and the Jersey Shore are forever linked in my mind.

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Speaker 1: A lot of places are in an in between state

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Speaker 1: this summer. Kids maybe out of camp, even as some

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Speaker 1: restaurants and activities are slowly opening back up. This may

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Speaker 1: go in and out. There is much uncertainty with everything.

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Speaker 1: It would be easy to spend open evenings watching uninteresting TV,

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Speaker 1: or scrolling mindlessly on social media, or worrying without taking

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Speaker 1: much concrete action. Having a long term project, on the

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Speaker 1: other hand, gives you something specific to do in the

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Speaker 1: evening instead. Making forward progress on a project offers a

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Speaker 1: different way of marking the passage of time. The actual

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Speaker 1: project itself can be just about anything, though I recommend

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Speaker 1: something that feels vallenging but doable and hopefully meaningful as well.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you want to read through a certain list of books,

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Speaker 1: or a certain lengthy book. My daughter and I are

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Speaker 1: now building a dollhouse together. It's similar to the one

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Speaker 1: I built years ago, and it's something I've wanted to

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Speaker 1: do for a while. As we are about to go

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Speaker 1: through the teenage years, which will no doubt present challenges,

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Speaker 1: it will be nice to have something we can look

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Speaker 1: back on having done to gather. Maybe you want to

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Speaker 1: write a book. Right, five hundred words a day and

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Speaker 1: in ninety days you've got forty words, which is a

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Speaker 1: good start on a draft. Maybe this is the summer

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Speaker 1: you finally enlarge those old photos and frame them and

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Speaker 1: hang them somewhere prominent. Or maybe the project is of

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Speaker 1: a different sort. My friend Emma Johnson, who runs the

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Speaker 1: Wealthy Single Mommy business, has responded to the economic crisis

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Speaker 1: by giving no strings attached grants each week to a

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Speaker 1: mom in need. This is a wonderful project. Or maybe

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Speaker 1: this is the summer you start your mentoring program. Vert really,

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Speaker 1: in any case, think about the things you find yourself

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Speaker 1: saying you want to do one day, or if you

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Speaker 1: had the time, that time could be now. Your project

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Speaker 1: will give structure to your time this summer, and someday,

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Speaker 1: when you are looking back, you can associate the project

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Speaker 1: with this time. So much of life can slip through

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Speaker 1: our fingers, memories disappear into the past, but a tangible

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Speaker 1: result can serve as a reminder and this makes our

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Speaker 1: memories deeper and stronger, and ultimately, memories are all we

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Speaker 1: really have. What long term projects are you working on

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Speaker 1: right now? Anything you're considering taking on, You can let

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Speaker 1: me know that before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: At i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my

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Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.